Although a Regina woman accused of a $5-million fraud sought to delay a judge’s decision on a bid to get her charges tossed out for unreasonable delay, in the end, the case will go on.

Justice Richard Elson declined to stay charges against Alena Marie Pastuch, despite finding her case had been handled “shabbily” and “unprofessionally” by the Saskatchewan Legal Aid Commission, resulting in some unreasonable delay.

Pastuch, 51, is now trying to arrange for another court-appointed lawyer after her previous one, who argued her trial delay application in May, quit a month later. A three-month jury trial is due to start in November.

Pastuch is also due back in court next month on further pre-trial applications — applying for a mistrial and to have the judge removed from the case.

In May, Pastuch pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud, theft and money laundering, that were sworn on June 3, 2014. It’s alleged that between April 1, 2006 and Jan. 1, 2013 she misappropriated millions of dollars invested in her companies that were focused on creating anti-fraud and child protection software.

The case had been set for a preliminary hearing in April this year, but last December, the Crown filed a direct indictment — meaning it goes directly to a jury trial.

Relying on last year’s Supreme Court decision, known as Jordan, Pastuch’s then-lawyer Christopher Funt argued that her charter-protected right to be tried in a reasonable amount of time had been violated. In most circumstances, the high court decision set a ceiling of 30 months in Queen’s Bench for a case to proceed from laying a charge to concluding the trial. Subtracting delay caused or waived by defence or barring “exceptional circumstances,” cases exceeding the ceiling risk being tossed out.

Before Elson could give his decision Tuesday on the defence application, Pastuch sought an adjournment so she can secure a new lawyer and make additional arguments on the delay issue. Pressed by Elson for details, Pastuch at one point replied, “I’m not a lawyer. I’m not sure.” But Elson said the Supreme Court has directed judges to scrutinize such applications “in an effort to speed things along,” and Pastuch had filed nothing to support her request. He proceeded with his 30-page decision.

Elson found 44 months will have passed by the time her trial concludes in February 2018.

After her arrest three years ago, Pastuch retained a private B.C. lawyer, who adjourned the case 29 times until quitting in May 2015 because Pastuch couldn’t raise the money to retain him. Two months later, she had a Legal Aid lawyer.

Elson found 10 months of delay “is all attributable to the accused’s decision to retain counsel she could not afford,” bringing the net delay to 34 months.

Her Legal Aid lawyer first alerted his head office in October 2015 that he couldn’t meet his obligation to provide “competent ethical service” in the complex case without significant assistance and a reduction in his regular caseload. Matters stalled.

“I am satisfied that staff (Legal Aid) counsel was properly mindful of the professional and ethical obligations he owed to the accused. I am equally satisfied that his superiors at Legal Aid Saskatchewan were not,” said Elson. He added that Pastuch had no ability to control the pace at which Legal Aid proceeded.

During his arguments, Funt had contended the Crown should have intervened with Legal Aid when matters bogged down. But Elson said that while both are funded by the public purse, Crown prosecutor Dana Brule would have have been overstepping legal boundaries to interfere with Legal Aid.

Legal Aid finally withdrew in March 2016. Pastuch was approved to get a private lawyer appointed by the court and paid for by the government.

Elson attributed the 6-1/2 months delay that Legal Aid caused to “a discrete exceptional event.” As a result he reduced the net delay calculation to 27-1/2 months, bringing it within the Jordan limits.

Furthermore, Elson added that even if he hadn’t found the time fell within exceptional circumstances, Jordan also makes allowances for cases that are complex, as is this one. For example, court heard the trial will involve at least 36 complainants, at least one expert, and the Crown has disclosed “voluminous” evidence to the defence.

Pastuch declined comment after the decision.

Since the Jordan ruling, unreasonable delay has seen cases across the country fall by the wayside, including those for murder, sexual assault and high-level drug trafficking.

In a Regina case earlier this year staying 10 drug charges, Elson noted: “It would not be unfair to say that the decision in Jordan has had a considerable, if not dramatic, impact on all aspects of the administration of justice in Canada.”